WHAT OUR CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY
CLIENT STORY - HOME
DOWNSIZING
CLIENT NEEDS
My clients are a retired couple who have just celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary; this is their client story. They are downsizing from a 5-bedroom home to a 3-bedroom one. Their home represents a lifetime of memories, they raised both their children here and continue to be active in the local community. Their home has been a hub for the local Landcare group for decades. But the time has come to open a new chapter in their lives and they need support, advice and a practical hands-on approach to decluttering and closing the chapter on their current home.
DECLUTR SOLUTIONS
We’re taking a whole of house approach and working room by room to identify items that need to be passed on to other family members, donated, recycled or put in the bin. This is a longer term project but so far we’ve taken more than 50 boxes of books to lifeline. We’ve listed a whole host of items on Freecycle from old jars and newspapers to music books, picture frames and car parts. We went through the medicine cupboard and removed anything that was out of date. I then look all prescription medications to the pharmacy to be disposed of properly. Boxes of treasured childhood memories have been collected by offspring. In the process we’ve discovered items that were considered lost forever. My clients are enjoying using these items and are seizing the notion of using things they’d kept for good on a daily basis.
CLIENT STORY - HOME
CREATING SPACE
CLIENT NEEDS
My clients, a family of five were feeling crowded, with no room to move. Both adults run their own businesses and need storage for the paperwork that goes with this. One business is run from home and require an office space. The open-plan lounge and dining areas were separated by office furniture creating two smaller cramped rooms. Many of the youngest child’s toys were also stored in the lounge room. My clients described her organising issue as ‘the walls were closing in’. All family members agreed they needed help to reclaim their space.
DECLUTR SOLUTIONS
We changed out the mismatched dark wood bookcases for a streamlined wall of three matching bookcases in white. This extended the living room instead of truncating it. We removed pieces of furniture that were being used as a dumping ground for paperwork and odds and ends. This opened up the space between the lounge and dining rooms creating a feeling of cohesiveness that had previously been missing. A new filing cabinet replaced the overflowing smaller one and paperwork was sorted and filed out of sight. Books and DVDs were sorted into keep and donate piles and those no longer required were boxed up and sent to Lifeline. Artwork that had been waiting to be hung found its way onto the walls and the house began to feel like home again.
CLIENT STORY - OFFICE
TIME MANAGEMENT - JUGGLING WORK AND LIFE
CLIENT NEEDS
My client wanted advice about scheduling time to manage her many business and family commitments. Her partner had recently transitioned from being an employee to running his own business and my client was managing all invoicing, social media and brand recognition. She was also working part time while managing a side hustle of her own. Her days were full to overflowing.
DECLUTR SOLUTIONS
First, working with my client’s calendar and schedule I demonstrated how task chunking works and showed her its many benefits. We then talked about letting go of unnecessary activities and together we worked out what these were. Later we discussed what letting go of them would look like and how it would aid work life balance. Finally we examined what activities could be outsourced and how social media scheduling could free up valuable time.
CLIENT STORY - HOME
WINDING UP THE FAMILY BUSINESS
CLIENT NEEDS
My clients had recently handed over the reins of the family business to their son and were keen to go through all of the old paperwork they had amassed over the past 20 years that were no longer required for the day-to-day running of the business. The business papers were mixed in with personal papers and the paperwork relating to the couple’s rental properties.
DECLUTR SOLUTIONS
We examined every piece of paper contained in the home office and categorised it. Some papers were recycled, others were collected for secure disposal, some were kept for sentimental reasons and the rest were passed on to the new business manager.
CLIENT STORY - OFFICE
PREPARING FOR THE WORK DAY
CLIENT NEEDS
My client had recently returned to work after 4 years at home with his young family. He was finding it difficult to create habits to help prepare for the working week and each work day. These included not having clean clothes and being unable to find his keys and lunchbox.
DECLUTR SOLUTIONS
We put systems to place to streamline the client’s beginning and end of day routine. From setting up somewhere to put his bag and getting the kids involved in unpacking his lunchbox to plugging in his phone to charge.
